Non-fiction/Paranormal
Surrounded by Spirits: Visitors From Beyond
D.J. Turk
Trafford Publishing
2008
98 pages
Author D. J. Turk reveals her link with the spirit world in her book Surrounded by Spirits: Visitors From Beyond. In the book, which includes photographs of spirit sightings, Turk describes encounters she has had with spirits throughout her life; some positive and others frightening.
One of the author's earliest experiences with spirits occurred after her baby brother, Brian, was killed in a car accident along with two of his friends. "Even in sleep, my feelings of guilt showed in recurring dreams (11)." After a year of torment, her brother visits her in a dream and tells her to let him go.
A few years later, the author marries and has two sons. This marriage ends in divorce and the young mother and her sons move into an apartment where they later learn that a murder had been committed. Several incidents occur in this apartment: Things found in places far from where they had been left; the sense of being watched; and the smell of food cooking in the middle of the night. "Each time I'd lay my head on the pillow, I'd hear a slow, steady breathing, as if someone were in a deep, peaceful sleep (18)." Family members who lived with the author briefly also had frightening experiences with the spirit in the apartment, including sightings of a tall, slim man standing next to their bed.
When Turk learned from her landlord that the anniversary of the murder of the former tenet would fall on her birthday, she worked quickly to move her family out of the building.
Turk remarries and has many years of happiness with her new husband and her children. While her home life is peaceful and absent of spirits, at her job as an assistant in a retirement home, she is faced with the presence of footsteps and even the image of a spirit that appeared in the screen of a television that was not turned on. Following her husband's sudden death, Turk began experiencing the activities of spirits in her own home. Her husband's spirit was among the small group that occupied her house.
The author offers not only her own testimony about these spiritual happenings, but also accounts of family members, friends, and co-workers who experienced many of the events with Turk. This book is an honest approach to a controversial topic. While a reader may come to the book with skepticism, it quickly becomes apparent that Turk writes from a place of sincerity and deep belief in her experiences. It is not an attempt to persuade but to share and to challenge those with minds open enough to receive the offering.
As the story continues, the reader learns that Turk is motivated by the events in her life to pursue recording the spirit activity via audio and visual methods. Her curiosity leads her to establish a group that investigates and records paranormal phenomenon near her home in Trent Hills, Ontario.
Surrounded by Spirits is an informative and inspiring look at one woman's connection to the spirit world and the impact these encounters have had on her perception of the afterlife.
Melissa Levine
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